The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Similar to traditional maps, digital maps visually represent information pertaining to geographical locations of natural and man-made structures. For example, a digital map can illustrate roads, railroads, hills, rivers, lakes, and towns within a selected geographic region. Today, interactive digital maps are available on various computing devices such as desktop and laptop computers, tablet computers, smartphones, etc. Software applications that provide interactive digital maps include special-purpose applications (developed specifically to display digital maps) and web browsers, for example. For convenience, all such software applications can be referred to as “mapping applications.”
Some of the mapping applications provide additional geographic information and services along with digital maps. For example, the user can request navigation directions to travel between two locations, and the mapping application can display a possible route on the digital map. As another example, the user can search for certain businesses located in the area represented by the currently displayed digital map. Mapping applications typically provide cartographic or textual information in connection with these services.